United States and Mexican authorities have suspended search efforts for 7 Americans still missing in the Sea of Cortez. The Americans were aboard the Mexican tour boat ‘Erik’ along with 20 other United States citizens and 17 Mexican crew members when it sank in a storm about 60 nautical miles from San Felipe, Baja California on July 3. One passenger was confirmed dead while 19 other passengers and all 17 crew members survived.
The U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy have been searching for Al Mein, Donald Lee, Russell Bautista, Mark Dorland, Brian Wong, Gene J. Leong and Shawn Chaddock for the last nine days. More than 7,300 miles were search by the Coast Guard. "Despite the thorough search of the region by Mexican and U.S. search teams, no signs of the missing men were found," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Joseph "Pepe" Castillo.
The Defense Department also refused a request to have deep-sea divers search the area where Erik sank. "We are sympathetic to the loss of life, but unfortunately our limited capability for operating at this depth is currently unavailable, and will remain unavailable, in the near term. It is our assessment that contract support is the only available option to recover the missing U.S. citizens,” the department said.
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